Noah Lyles arrived in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics looking to accomplish something that an American sprinter has not done since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Part one of that job is done, as Lyles secured gold in the 100-meter on Sunday in one of the closest races in Olympic history.
Part two of that job gets underway today, as Lyles begins his pursuit of gold in the 200-meter sprint. Lewis was the last American to capture both in the same Olympics, back in 1984. The last sprinter to accomplish this feat at any Games? Usain Bolt, who won both the 100- and the 200-meter at three straight Olympics, from 2008 through 2016.
Lyles, who won bronze in the 200-meter at the Tokyo Olympics, enters the event as the favorite and is the three-time reigning world champion at this distance. The 19.53 he posted at the U.S. Track and Field Trials back in June is the fastest in the world this season.
But he will face stiff competition, with perhaps his biggest threat coming in the form of fellow American Kenny Bednarek. Bednarek finished second to Lyles at the Trials back in June, and as Lyles noted on Sunday, Bednarek will enter the event hungry, after finishing seventh in the 100-meter final.
Still, Lyles is as confident as ever:
“I’ll be winning.”
Lyles has every right to be confident heading into the 200-meter, given how he has performed this season and how he fared Sunday in the 100-meter. Will that confidence be rewarded with a second gold, putting Lyles on par with some of the greatest sprinters in Olympic history?
We’ll start answering that question later Monday.
